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Monday, 30 November 2015

NewDELHI: With the intolerance debate taking centre-stage in the wake of outrage expressed by a section of intelligentsia and return of awards by writers, filmmakers and historians, a set of intellectuals on Thursday issued a detailed statement in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the protests were "much ado about the declining clout of a pampered section".

The statement - 'Intolerance in Contemporary India' - was signed by 36 intellectuals by Thursday evening. The signatories include many prominent names associated with top institutions across the country.

It said, "India has witnessed a curious spectacle these last few weeks. A section of the nation's intelligentsia has expressed outrage at a perceived mounting intolerance in society. In the forefront are the usual pallbearers of Indic civilization -- Congressmen of various hues, Marxists, Leninists, even a handful of Maoists.

"The target is clear and explicitly stated -- none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who much to their dismay led his party to a clear majority in Parliament. Failure in the elections is now sought to be avenged by other means; it helps if the media (or sections of it) serve as cheerleaders."

The signatories appealed to people not to be diverted by the false narrative and rather focus on achieving unity, progress and growth under Modi's leadership.

Though these intellectuals expressed anguish over what happened in Dadri, they questioned how the central government was responsible for this.

"The murder of a resident of Uttar Pradesh, allegedly because he consumed beef, is certainly condemnable, but how is the central government to blame? Uttar Pradesh is a state infamous for violence of every kind. Had the Centre intervened and dismissed the state government under Article 356 of the Constitution, for failure to uphold law, the protest brigade would have found another stick with which to beat it. The murders of Dabholkar and Kalburgi happened in states not ruled by the BJP, yet loose language is bandied about," the statement said.

Referring to the intellectuals who have been vocal recently over the Dadri killing, the statement said, "This same intelligentsia chooses not to remember that there has been no justice for victims of the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984 and the farmers killed in Nandigram in 2007 under Congress and Left governments respectively.

"In fact, when the CPM-led Left Front government, professing to serve the 'proletariat', fired upon and killed innocent farmers, it was a constituent of UPA-1 at the Centre and a close partner of the Congress party. A similar silence followed when in 2010, the hands of Professor T J Joseph, in then CPM-ruled Kerala, were chopped off, simply because of his belief and articulations. There are other sins of commission, too many to list."

Without taking Irfan Habib's name, the statement added, "But the equation of the RSS with the terrorist Islamic State by an AMU scholar is simply breathtaking, it embarrassed intellectuals from his own community. As an eminent scholar of Islam, he would be aware of its own recorded history and the IS's self-documented abuse of human rights, including beheadings and wanton killings, not to mention rape, enslavement et al."

1609 - The modern face of the moon first emerged when Galileo Galilei in Padua turned his telescope toward the moon, noted the irregularities of the crescent face, and made a drawing to record his discoveries.

1858 - John Landis Mason received a US patent for his invention known by his name - the Mason jar.

1897 - A U.S. patent for a "Device for Rolling Cigarettes" was issued to black American inventor J.A. Sweeting.

1954 - in Sylacauga, Alabama, USA, Ann Hodges, 32, was bruised on the arm and hip by a meteorite that fell through the roof of her house into her living room.

1967 - The Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who becomes its first Chairman later as the Head of state and Head of government after the 1971 Civil War.

Born....

1874 - Winston Churchill. {He was the Prime Minister of the UK from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer (as Winston S. Churchill), and an artist. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States in his life time (Later also Mother Teresa). As a young army officer, he saw action in British India, the Sudan, and the Second Boer War. Churchill was brought up by his nanny Mrs Elizabeth Ann Everest; was rebellious when young and had poor academic record; struggled with a stutter and a lateral lisp: was mocked for his red hair in school and was given the cruel nickname "Copperknob"; Got into Sandhurst military academy in1893 in his third attempt; after working with other publications, in 1899, joined as a correspondent for the Morning Post at a salary of £250 a month; took some 60 bottles of booze with him when he set out for the Boer War; was captured after the armoured train he was travelling on in South Africa was stormed by Boer soldiers - threw himself to safety in a ditch by the side of the track after the train collided with a boulder on the track but was found hunkered down in the dirt and surrendered to an armed Boer soldier, who decided not to shoot; (The Boer soldier turned out to be Louis Botha – the future first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa who would work with Churchill in later life to help South Africa become a British Dominion); escaped by scaling a prison wall in the dead of night; after returning as a young war hero and publishing his tales from the battlefields, Churchill contested the Oldham constituency seat – which he had lost a year earlier – and won; then embarked on a speaking tour through Britain and north America which helped him raise £10,000 for himsel; as a young politician, Churchill was staunchly against votes for women; was personally involved in the development of the tank – which was first used in battle by the British army on September 15 1916; tried flying but never gained his pilot's licence after he was hurt in an aeroplane crash at Croydon aerodrome – and his wife urged him to give up the hobby; the disastrous Gallipoli landings on the Dardanelles during the First World War was the brainchild of Churchill; proposed to three different women during his twenties – all of whom refused - but he did remain friends with all three women; was a prolific painter and produced almost 600 works of art during his lifetime; notorious for his smoking, he has a cuban cigar named in his honour - Churchill was the only person whom Field Marshal Montgomery would allow to smoke in his presence; was 65-years-old when he first became PM; was an incredibly emotional man, would often breakdown into sobs during meeting when he was given bad news and in many of his broadcast speeches he can be heard holding back tears: daily wore his 'jumpsuit,' the extraordinary one-piece uniform, but the servants never quite got over seeing him naked in his room when they'd go up to serve brandy, it was the jumpsuit or nothing; suffered from clinical depression throughout his life; was a fan of drink Champagne, he said of it: "I could not live without Champagne, in victory I deserve it, in defeat I need it".

Titbits....

1986 - Ivan Lendl became 1st tennis player to earn over $10 million, in lifetime.

Sunday, 29 November 2015

General Dalbir Singh, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), will embark on a four day goodwill visit to Sri Lanka from 30 Nov to 03 Dec 15. The visit assumes special significance in light of increasing defence cooperation between the two countries. In recent years, the Indo- Sri Lanka relationship has been marked by high level bilateral exchanges in various fields between the two countries.

Amongst the countries of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), Sri Lanka is the most important partner and one of our most important neighbour. Defence and Security Cooperation between the two countries have been an important component of the Bilateral Strategic partnership. Bilateral exchanges at various levels over the past year with significant progress in implementation of developmental assistance projects, enhancement of trade and defence cooperation has helped further cement the bonds of friendship between the two countries. Defence cooperation between the two countries has been characterized by mutual training exercises, exchanges at functional level, cooperation in maritime security and humanitarian assistance.

During his visit, the COAS is scheduled to interact with senior officials of Defence Forces and Ministry of Defence of Sri Lanka to discuss a wide range of issues and to enhance military cooperation. He will also visit training establishments and Formation Headquarters. The visit will further enhance the longstanding ties and cooperation in other areas of mutual interest between India and Sri Lanka, including regional security.

Press Information Bureau Government of IndiaMinistry of Home Affairs29-November-2015 20:53 IST

Serve the country in Social and Economic field: Rajnath Singh

The Union Home Minister, Shri Rajnath Singh has said that students must serve the country in the social and economic field after acquiring academic knowledge. He was attending the 132nd prize distribution function of Myo College for boys at Ajmer in Rajasthan today.

Shri Rajnath Singh congratulated the prize winners and appreciated the international reputation and the level of discipline in the college. He also said that the happiness in life does not come from knowledge, power or prosperity alone as it requires high character.

"There is no issue of gender discrimination," Dhowan said responding to queries on alleged gender bias in Indian Navy.

Talking to reporters at Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala near here after reviewing Passing out Parade of 330 cadets of the Indian Navy, he pointed out that women officers marched shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts at the impressive ceremony.

"Today 22 women officers passed out. We are very proud that the woman officer who got the award... Not one but two awards is from Kerala, from the local community, a Kannur girl and I think it is a matter of great pride," he said.

He was referring to the achievement of Darshita Babu, who was awarded the 'Chief of the Naval Staff Gold Medal' for the cadet adjudged first in overall order-of-merit for Naval Orientation (Regular) Course and also the 'Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (South) Gold Medal' for being adjudged the best woman trainee of the course.

"All our women officers make us extremely proud and I can assure you that we, they are all equal and there is no aspect of very gender bias (in Navy system)," he said.

"...I can assure you that we will have women shortly who will be pilots...And we will prepare ourselves for the future when the women can be on our ships," Dhowan said when asked about a case pending before the Supreme Court filed by some women Navy officers.

On November 20, the Supreme Court had stayed the Delhi High Court order allowing women, serving as short service commission officers, to get permanent commission in the Indian Navy.

A bench of Justices T S Thakur and V Gopala Gowda had issued notice to the concerned woman Navy officers on whose plea the High Court had passed the order allowing permanent commission for them in the force.

The government had challenged the order in the apex court.

While the Army and Air Force allow permanent commission for women, the Navy has limited women officers only to short service commission of 14 years.

Air Force wants highways that can be adapted for use as 'landing strips' in an emergency

NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force (IAF) has taken a step forward to use highway stretches as "landing strips" in an emergency for fighter aircrafts. It has asked National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to share the details of the plans to upgrade the existing highways or build new ones so that necessary features are incorporated to make certain portions function as "runways" and allow for both landings and take-offs.

Sources said such stretches would be developed in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Punjab on priority basis considering these states share their boundaries with Pakistan. About eight highways have been identified in Rajasthan and Punjab, and it has been suggested that quite a few other stretches can be designed as landing strips.

Following the successful landing of a Mirage-2000 fighter aircraft on the Yamuna Expressway, the IAF in July had written to NHAI citing how the high quality of highways could be used for runways in an emergency, say in case the air force runway is blocked due to any reason. Moreover, such stretches can also be activated for training for such landing and take off in case of exigencies. It has also asked the agencies to share the plans to develop highways in the next 5-10 years.

Officials said that the location of the strips could depend on the distance from IAF base and distance from populated areas. "Ideally, stretches that are being built with cement concrete and have a long straight of at least 4-5 kms can be put to use for such purpose. The plan is to have these provisions while going for major upgradation of highways or building bypasses," a government official said.

He added that these can be very useful in case of war or to move the aircrafts from the official base to avoid major damage.

The IAF has suggested close coordination among all state government agencies to work out standard operating procedure (SOP) on issues of operationalization of the landing strips during emergencies or for training. It has also circulated a list of factors that need to be considered for developing such stretches.

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